Love on Wheels?
by Mz Caroline
Summary: What could possibly be more twisted than darien's sudden love of his new and unquestionably hot red car? Well... Serena's insane jealousy for one. usaxmamo 1st season romance
1. Chapter 1

The sun was bright and the day was warm as a jovial Serena skipped in the direction of the Crown Arcade, where she could expect to find blissful refreshment in the form of a triple chocolate milkshake. She was a girl on a mission, skipping as quickly as she could, for as far as Serena was concerened, moments spent not sipping at milshakes were in fact, moments wasted. She rounded the corner, her heart thumping excitedly as her eyes targeted in on the arcade. With the front door now in view, she found the energy to breakout into a full blown skipping gait, getting ever closer. Something flashed red in her periphial vision. Momentarily distracted, she slowed to a slow skip and turned to get a proper look at the object that had caught her attention. It was a car. Though not only a car. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. It was a Mercedes Benz version of the batmobile! It was red, sleek, shiny and incredibly lovable. Normally not one to care about or like cars at all, Serena strangely found herself skipping, very slowly, past the vehicle, her mouth hanging open. She couldn't seem to stop staring. SMACK. Upon hitting the arcade door, she was torn out of her delirium. She shook her head, clearing it of the fog that had set upon seeing the car. Holding her head low, she entered, knowing everyone would have seen her make a complete fool of herself. Closing the door behind her, head still down, she waited for the howl of laughter... nothing. For the taunt...nothing. For the greeting?... nothing. She looked up, confused, then upon looking around, confusion cleared. All eyes were on the car, parked adjacent to the window. Usagi even found herself staring once again, feeling the fog set in. _Wowee, what a car_ she thought distractedly _I wonder who could possibly tame such a wild beauty, let alone own it? It's so beautiful, I think I may be in..._ She felt a sudden nag at the back of her mind. There was a reason she was supposed to be here. She had come for something. Upon recall she felt like it was important. More important than air even. A MILKSHAKE! She had come here for a milkshake! oh how could she possibly have forgotten?! Storming over to the counter, suddenly furious with herself, she found Andrew and Darien just as entranced as the rest. Upon her arrival, Darien tore his eyes away and looked over at her.

"Meatball head," He acknowledged her. Andrew however had yet to notice her arrival. Banging the counter with a loud thud, Andrew started with a jump.

"Oh, hey Serena," he smiled at her kindly, his eyes flicking back to the car every few seconds "when did you get here? I didn't even see you come in..."

"Speaking of _her_ coming in, I suddenly realised _I_ have to leave." Darien stood, making room for Serena at the counter, who immediately sat down heavily

"No time for talk," she croaked "... need milkshake... chocolate...triple...fast" Finally feeling at peace, having ordered her drink, she looked back at Darien who was fumbling around in his pant pockets, looking for something.

"Arrgh, where did I put them?" he grumbled, now ravaging through the pockets of his jacket.

"Whatcha lookin for? a life?" Serena snickered, thinking about how clever she was. Darien didn't answer, instead he pulled out a shiny set of keys and jangled them in front of her face as if that were enough to put her in her place. Serena dismissed him with a cock of her eyebrow and a wave of her hand, thinking they were just regular house keys. Looking affronted, Darien walked toward the exit without speanking a word.

"Wait," Serena called after him, suddenly realising his keys couldn't have been just a regular set of house . But Darien hadn't heard her, or, if he had, he'd just kept on walking. She grabbed her freshly made milkshake and ran out after him.

"Why does that key have the Mercedes Benz logo on it?" she called out once more, suspisciously. Darien stopped, meters from the car and turned to face her

"Ah because, they unlock a Mercedes Benz..." He spoke slowly, as if speaking to a dumb child. Serena flushed.

"Well obviously," she snapped "I meant, what are YOU doing with them?!"

In answer, Darien strolled up to the vehicle quite casually and sat his hand on the bonnet of the red beast.

"Because it's mine" He said smugly, unable to hide his grin. He petted the car fondly, as if it were an animal, releasing a collective gasp from inside the arcade. Serena's Jaw dropped

"No waaay that is not your car! The truth please..." she managed to choke out, hesitantly stepping closer. Darien moved slowly, so that he now stood directly infront of Serena. Having noted this she wondered whether he was doing this to be closer to her. She shook her head, clearing her head of sucha ridiculous thought.

"It's the truth. It is my car. Someone came around this morning and dropped it off. Apparently I have a great uncle who died and wanted me to have it." He laughed bouyantly as he spoke. His eyes on the otherhand, maintained their seriousness, watching her every move. Tingling slightly, Serena wondered whether he was now checking her out. Afterall, it seemed he couldn't take his eyes off her.

"Oh wow. AIEE" she cried out, feeling fuelled and happy as rushed forward to touch the car in all her excitement. Suddenly, the reasoning behind Darien's position in front of her and then his watchfulness became very clear. He had actually positioned himself BETWEEN herself and the car and within an instant of her moving, Darien had slid forward and blocked her from coming anywhere close to the car. He wasn't doing it to get closer to her, it was to push her away from his car!

"You shouldn't touch what you can't afford" He said, taking a defensive position infront of his baby. Serena couldn't tell if he were joking or not, but she felt herself puff up with indignition regardless.

"YOU'RE STUPID, AND YOUR CAR IS STUPID! YOU BOTH DESERVE EACHOTHER" she screamed, before storming back into the arcade. She shoved past all the admirers and found herself a seat in the corner, from where she could still watch Darien and the car. She slurped heavily on her milkshake eying the both of them closely. Now that Serena had gone, Darien turned back around to face his car and caressed it gently.

Serena mock gagged, still simmering from their petty argument. Unable to take her eyes of Darien, she noticed him bend in closer to the car, still tenderly stroking the paint. Was he whispering to it now? _he's probably telling that beautiful car how much he loves her and how he'd do antything to protect her..._ she sooked angrily, clenching her fists together, mimicking the clenching that was taking place in her chest. It was partly anger, she knew that, but there was something more to it as well. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on. She froze. Darien had gone in for the kill and planted a kiss on the car.

"You better not have kissed that car Darien Chiba!" She snapped loudly suddenly at the door, she couldn't even recall getting out of her seat she had moved so fast. Darien jumped away from the car in surprise. He looked at Serena and then the car and then back at Serena.

"Whaaat?" he laughed nervously, looking incredibly uncomfortable "I didn't kiss the car. That would just be ridiculous... and weeeird" but Serena wasn't listening anymore

"You think just because your good looking you can go around kissing whoever and whatever you like. Well here's news for you jerkface. YOU CAN'T. She's not even your girlfriend and.. and she deserves better than that!" Serena had sure worked herself up. She took a sip from the milkshake that had yet to leave her hand to calm herself down. She was so furious she was on the verge of tears. Darien stood awkwardly in the middle of the road. Not daring to move closer to Serena, who looked fit to explode, or his car, which he suddenly felt strange being around.

"I... What?.. no it wasn't like that!.. I Just ..." He found himself stammering. He didn't know what to make of Serena's psycho reaction, or his own guilty response for that matter.

"Why don't you just make your relationship public and then you can... you can KISS HER ALL YOU WANT!" She didn't even wait to hear his reply before setting off at a jog towards her home, tears prickling in her eyes. She had at least made it too her room before the prickling of the eyes became an open tap, and the sobbing began.

* * *

That night, Serena couldn't sleep. She kept replaying the scene between herself, Darien and the car back and forth in her mind, trying to figure out exactly what had made her so upset. Often enough, Darien's teasing was enough to make her mad, furious even. But it was very rare that it was enough to make her cry.

_So what if he likes the car more than me? Why should I care that he would want to touch and kiss that car in that nice looking way? He's never liked me and I've never liked him_ she silently affirmed, yet instead of making her feel better, this little train of thought pulled at the tears again and before she knew it, she was sobbing again.

"Serena, what happened this time?" Luna's voice asked from the window before prowling over to where Serena lay on her bed, head burried in her pillow. Luna nudged her in the head with her paw prompting Serena to look up.

"It's nothing... No, it's Darien. No, it's that ugly, stupid, amazing car" She blubbered between sobs "Of course he would fall head over heels for it. It's beautiful and smooth and shiny. Oh if I could I would rip out it's headlights with my bare hands!" She had gone hysterically angry again and Luna felt herself backing off towards the window incase things turned ugly. Suddenly Serena released a heavy sigh and she was not longer angry. Just sad.

"Oh but even I couldn't resist admiring her. It was all I could think about and see at first. No wonder Darien couldn't resist her.. I mean _it_.. " she was sobbing again " but it's not even just Darien. Andrew didn't even notice me when I came in and he's always the first to say hello. It was like I didn't even exist. Not too mention even the entire arcade couldn't look away. I guess I just have to accept that she's prettier and better than me in EVERY WAAAAY"

Luna sat transfixed as Serena wailed on and on about the car. She didn't so much care that no one was paying any attention to Serena, but more to the fact that everyone had paid that car so much attention. Something didn't feel right about this. Half way through another chapter of Serena's sob story, Luna snuck back out the window, searching for a quite spot to contemplate what she had just heard.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

Usagi pulled the covers from over her head and sat up in her bed feeling remarkably groggy. The sun was out and shining directly into her eyes. Looking at the time she saw that it was almost 2 in the afternoon. It was a beautiful Saturday and under normal circumstances, she would be on her way to the arcade, or walking through the park, or go-karting or something, but she had been doing none of these things for the past 5 days. She couldn't deal with seeing Darien and that whorey car everywhere she went. If she went to the arcade, Darien would be there, stroking it and talking to it out front. If she went to the park, Darien would be across the road eating pizza with his car. If she went to the drive-in with her parents, sure enough, Darien would be parked rows down with his red sweetheart. She just couldn't deal with it. Even walking home from school, she'd seen him at a car wash, talking his baby through the process. She had practically vomited where she stood. It was disgusting that he should be so adoring of a car! So now she simply avoided him, and to do that meant sticking to school, and then the straightest, shortest way home. It was coming on five days since she decided on staying in, and consequently, 5 days since she had had a milkshake. Finding the resolve to finally get out of bed, Serena felt her hands begin to tremble. She had seconds before the cravings struck, like a punch to the face, a stab in the stomach. She neeeeeded a milkshake! It wasn't merely a want anymore. It was a necessity. Without thinking, she set off at a run toward the arcade.

She hit the doors open with such strength that they swung on their hinges for several minutes after she had entered. Customers stopped and stared as Serena powered through the arcade toward the counter, many people dodging and jumping out of the way.

"MILKSHAKE" she wheezed, falling on to the counter, twitching. Andrew said nothing, but jumped to process her order immediately, fearing the look in those crazed eyes of hers. He came back moments later with the largest, most flavoursome milkshake Serena ever had the privilege of tasting. Having had one sip, she found herself right as rain once again. Now able to concentrate, she took a seat at the counter, hoping to chat with Andrew, who had just left the kitchen to fetch more milk. When he returned, Serena sucked in a deep breath of air at the sight of him. He was still the same Andrew she mew and remembered, but he just looked so worn down and tired! His skin had a grey sheen to it, and was harbouring large purple circles under his eyes.

"Andrew, are you ok?!" She asked fixedly, wondering what on earth could have happened to her friend

"Yeah I'm fine," he replied without enthusiasm "I'm just really tired. Mamoru was just here with his new car." He paused, his eyes staring off into the distance, a smile appearing on his lips "Oh boy it's tiring work admiring that car of his" he chuckled before moving off to take another customer's order. Serena scratched her head in thought and looked around the room. Startlingly, she noticed that almost everyone in the arcade had, too some degree the same tired look about them. Some only showed slight bruises under their eyes, whilst others, looked almost as wretchedly as Andrew. Noting those that had been afflicted the worst with whatever this strange sickness was, Serena realised she recognised most of these faces as those of regular customers here to Andrew's arcade. There was something definitely off, though she couldn't think of what it might be. As she exited the arcade, Milkshake in hand, she couldn't stop hearing Andrew's voice ringing in her mind

_It's tiring work admiring that car if his_.

Having decided something obviously wasn't right, rather than heading home, she found herself walking in the general direction of Darien's apartment. She didn't trust that new car of his. It had been nothing but bad news from the minute she first laid eyes on it. It had sent her headlong into a solid door!. Of course she had nothing but suspicions, but a nagging feeling in her gut encouraged her to follow it. Besides, she hadn't seen Darien in 5 days now and she was curious to see how he was doing and at the very least to see if he had been affected by that strange tiring disease. Rounding the corner, she new she had made it to his house upon seeing that horrible red car sitting beautifully underneath the shade of a large oak tree, outside a small apartment building that she knew to be Darien's. She cursed the logic that had ever brought her wandering down this side of town and moved to stand in front of the car. Looking it up and down, she wondered what Darien saw in it anyway. It was only a car.

_A majorly sexy car, that doesn't tease him, that isn't stupid and clumsy and childish_ she thought bitterly. Without thinking, she took a mock kick at the car, and then another...and another. With all this air kicking going on, she should have felt her shoe loosen before it flew up and got caught in one of the branches above the car. Swearing inwardly, she hopped over, past the car, to the tree behind it in hopes of reaching her shoe. After several failed attempts, she swore inwardly and felt tears prick at her eyes. She was just too short. She would never get her shoe back, and what's more, she would have to walk home with only one shoe on. Everyone would tease her and then her mum would yell at her for loosing it in the first place… Yet instead of bursting into tears, she put her energy into strengthening her resolve. She would climb that tree and get her shoe back! Eyeing the lower branches closely, she wondered if they would hold her weight. If she could just get up on one of them, she'd be able to reach her shoe for sure. The only thing was, she would need a leg up or at the very least a car bonnet to stand on in order to reach the lower branches. She looked around mischievously

"Oh well what do you know?" she whispered innocently "There's are car bonnet waiting conveniently under the very tree I need to climb. It must be fate…' she chuckled to herself. She stepped up as carefully as she could. Sure she hated the car, but she also valued her life and for a dint in this car, it would surely be the price Darien would demand in retribution.

* * *

There was an eerie silence within the caves as a tall, thin woman with purple hair circled in the shadowy holding chamber. Non of her Minions dared speak into the silence lest their words be their last.

"Good. I am glad your theories are proving to be correct," she spoke softly, evil hidden in her every word "Adoration has certainly been generating quite a lot of energy for the Megaverse. Whose idea was it to send out the bewitched car?" she finished shrewdly. One of the men trembled and stepped forward. There was no telling what she would do to him

"Ahhh, that was me Queen Beryl" He finally managed to choke out.

"Very good, your plan has worked very well. All throughout Tokyo, people are charmed to stop and admire the car, and as they do, it steals their energy!" she laughed, circling in closer to the minion.

"Thankyou majesty, I am glad it's working" He mumbled. At this, Queen Beryl tapped her lip thoughtfully.

"And minion, is there any reason why it wouldn't work?"

"Well only if the subject is out of range of the car…"

"Which he isn't" snapped Queen Beryl "Is there any other reasons you're not telling me?"

"No majesty, not unless someone's around their one true love. It's the only thing someone can feel that's stronger than the adoration generated by the car."

Ushering her minion back into the semi-circular formation they had been holding, she continued walking back and forth, she shadows distorting her already frightening features.

"Now," she called out "Who was responsible for choosing our primary victim?"

Again, another minion stepped forward, he too was trembling in his boots

"I did majesty"

"And what were your reasons behind choosing this one?"

"Because for one, he had a lot of energy and he was also lonely meaning he has no true love to disrupt the stealing of energy. The only girl he has in his life is a blabbering child he fights with all the time and clearly dislikes. Definitely no love there.. " He spoke so quickly, he had trouble breathing in between words. By the time he had finished, he felt weak and out of breath

"If the only inhibition is the presence of one's true love, and this man doesn't have a one true love, PLEASE TELL ME WHY THE CAR IS NO LONGER STEALING HIS ENERGY?"


	3. Chapter 3

_Steady, steady, steady_ Serena thought as she pressed her shaking body closer to the tree trunk, trying to take as much of her weight off the thin branch she was on. She had cleared the first hurdle of getting up into the tree without dinting the car. Now the second hurdle of staying in the tree long enough to get her shoe was bordering. Scanning the branches above her head, she sighed in relief. Her shoe was a mere two branches directly above where she stood trembling. All she had to do was stretch her hand.. a little further... almost, yes, yes….

* * *

A minion coughed and stepped forward into the partial light where he could be seen.

"The person he loves must be close by. There is no other explanation"

"Well in that case, we will need to go straight to our emergency plan and transform the car into the fembot we built into it. Not only will she to kill the girl, but also retrieve the very last of the victim's energy. He's almost completely drained as it is. It won't take much time to get the last of it." Queen Beryl began to laugh, her cackles echoing throughout the caves. The minions began laughing nervously also. With a flick of her hand, they all burst into flame, save one.

"You, transform the car. I want it to attack NOW!"

The Minion hurried across to the where the lever sat, just waiting to be shifted.

* * *

Out of nowhere, a loud humming sound emerged from the vehicle directly below, surprising Serena, causing her to jump heavily on the branch. Her heart thumped painfully against her chest, yet despite the little unsteady shake, the branch continued to hold steady.

_Wow, _she thought to herself in amazement_ this branch must be hell stronger than I had thou..._

The branch snapped loudly beneath her weight.

* * *

Queen Beryl cackled wickedly as the minion pulled down the lever of transformation

"Let the attack begin!" She cried, throwing her arms into the air

* * *

**CREAK SNAP SMASH BANG**

Serena grabbed frantically at the branches above as the branch beneath her snapped away from the tree. Unable to grab a sturdy hold on anything, she came down with it, crashing straight through the engine of the car before falling through the windscreen. Sparks went flying, as did thousands of shards of glass. At least it had put a stop to that horrible whirring noise. Dazed, she sat up and surveyed the damage. _Thankfully not too bad_ she thought letting out a little sigh of relief. _Just a few scratches here and there_… then she moved on to survey the car

_I am dead…_ was all she could think as she sat meekly in the drivers seat. Fumbling her way as far out of the windscreen as she could with out slashing herself open on broken slivers of glass, she saw the outside of the vehicle. Studying the wreckage that was the car, she couldn't help but notice that it was unexplainably mutated. Sure it had a branch through the bonnet, a girl through the windscreen and glass just about everywhere else, but it was the wheels that had turned outwards, and the boot that could now be found on the roof that sent shock waves of horror coursing through her veins. She hadn't thought she was fat enough to have that kind of effect.

* * *

Glaring at the little minion who sat at her feet crying, she ran over to the lever and shifted it repeatedly before abandoning all hope of it working.

"WHY ISN'T IT WORKING?!" She screeched, burning all ears that heard

"The car has been destroyed" sobbed the little minion huddling into a ball "That's all it could be. They caught on and thwarted us..." He whispered before he burst into flames. Queen Beryl was livid, and what's worse, she had no more minions to take it out on. Screaming her fury, she stormed out of the cave, back at square one.

* * *

"I am so dead, I am soooo dead…" she repeated to herself as if stating the obvious would make the actual eventuation of her death less scary. Within minutes, she found it didn't work quite as well as she had originally planned and suddenly found she had tears coursing through her eyes and a high pitched whining noise escaping through her lips. She laid back down in the broken glass shards across the front seats and cried.

"WAAH" she bawled loudly not caring whether Darien heard her and came running out. She would have to face him eventually.

"Serena?!" she knew who the voice belonged too, she just hadn't thought it would get there so quickly. It was loud, and shaky. _Here it comes. Goodbye life_ she thought murkily, squeezing her eyes closed as hard as she could. Maybe death wouldn't hurt so much if she didn't see it coming

"Serena!!" he cried out again, this time closer. Within moments, Serena heard more glass smashing and then felt large, warm hands encircle her arms before pulling her out of the vehicle. Having cleared the windscreen safely, she was pulled into a seated embrace on the bonnet of the ruined car. Darien held her close as she sobbed

"I'm so sorry" she wailed into his shirt "it's true I hated the car, but I didn't mean to ruin it.. please, I don't want to die"

Darien stroked her hair tenderly, chuckling softly.

"Well that's lucky. I'm not in the mood to kill anyone." He paused for a brief moment, no longer smiling "Don't worry about alright, it doesn't matter. So long as you're alright." He whispered comfortingly "When I first heard you cry out, I thought you were dying..."

Her tears sloed notably as she lifted her head to gaze up at Darien. She could feel he was trembling underneath her body and she told him so.

"Yeah, I told you. I thought you were dying when I heard you cry out. You scared me near to death dumpling head!" He looked at her intently, searching her face.

"You really would have cared that much if I had died?" She asked hopefully, blushing slightly under his heavy gaze. Darien let out a soft laugh

"You never did see it did you? All this time, you've never realised…"

It was Serena's turn to fix her stare on him "Never saw what?" she asked, feeling completely confused. In response, he brushed his finger across her cheek and then over her lips before leaning forward to her to kiss her. Serena had guessed this was coming having studied his expressions during his little speech. She had felt her heart pounding through her chest, in her ears, blocking all thought, but when the kiss came, she welcomed it as something that just felt too natural not to happen. She found herself kissing him back, slowly and sweetly. When they parted, Serena altered her position so that she was lying back against Darien's chest.

"So are you super angry that I completely ruined your pride and joy?" she asked looking back it him nervously. Darien pulled her dishevelled hair back out of her face.

"It's true I did really like that car. I mean, it didn't tease me or call me names, and it definitely wasn't ditzy or clumsy... or loud and whiney"

Serena paled, this wasn't the speech she had expected so soon after sharing such a sweet kiss.

"So you _do_ like the car more than me?" she trembled, her bottom lip quaking. Despite her reaction, Darien's smile widened even further

"I like you _because _you are all of those things meatball head..."

The quaking of her bottom lip halted as she tilted back her head and felt tears prick behind her eyes, though for the first time in a long time, they were the good tears.

"I didn't like that car at all!" Serena stated "I new from the beginning it was all wrong for you"

"Yeah," Darien agreed "there was something not quite right about it wasn't there. Actually, now that I mention it, I can't really recall much of my time with the car at all. It's all just one big haze…" Darien paused, looking extremely confused.

"Though," he continued, "I do remember feeling horribly, horribly tired. Earlier today I just wanted to go to sleep and never wake up. Well, up until I heard the crashes and screams that is." He chuckled slightly "so I guess I have you to thank for waking me up at least." Serena was about to reply when an ear splitting yowl interrupted her

"Arrgh LUNA" she yelled, sliding off the bonnet and running to meet the cat that was sprinting up the street towards them.

Having run out of Darien's hearing range, Serena picked up her little black fuzzball and asked her what the emergency was. Luna looked over her shoulder quizzically at the demolished car

"Well I had come to warn you about that car, but it looks like I don't have to. Good to see you've taken care of things… for once. I didn't think you would figure out the Megaverse's evil scheme on your own." Serena didn't know what on earth Luna was talking about but she played along regardless, not wanting to lose the brownie points she'd just earned.

"Hey, I'm offended you had such little faith in me. I'm smarter than my stunning looks let on! I obviously ruined that car on purpose to defeat the Megaverse, and not because I accidentally broke the branch above it while climbing the tree to get my shoe back. Gosh Luna, give me some credit here" she piped up indignantly. Seeing Luna's gaze she knew she'd fooled no one.

"You're hopeless" Luna mumbled, before worming her way out of Serena's hold and bounded off back home. Serena, followed Luna's lead and bounded off back to where Darien now stood, leaning against a tree.

"I'm starved, " he said, holding his arms out for her to walk into "Shall we get something to eat?"

Serena hesitated before entering the circle of his arms again, feeling suddenly shy. This was all so new to her, but she knew this was what she wanted. It would just take some getting used to showing that to him.

"We would have to walk…" she reminded him playfully, slowly relaxing into his hold

"Very true," he agreed thoughtfully "Maybe we should just go raid my fridge…"

The End.


End file.
